


under nobody's skin but mine

by jaeniverse



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: #JohnJaeWeek2021, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29431257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaeniverse/pseuds/jaeniverse
Summary: the mark doesn't come to everyone. less than a tenth of the population are blessed with a soulmate; a magical gift that society still doesn't understand.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 4
Kudos: 79





	under nobody's skin but mine

**Author's Note:**

> johnjae fan week day 7: soulmate
> 
> i wrote this in about three hours and rushed to post it before the 14th is over in korea so it is completely unedited. please let me know if you catch any mistakes! also i don't know why i can't add it to the collection right now but i'll try and fix that later ;;;;

when johnny is four, he comes home from kinder with a bandage around his wrist.

he doesn't understand why the kinder teacher went so pale when she saw it or why she scrubbed so hard at his skin or why she kept wrapping the bandage around and around his little wrist even when johnny complained that it itched. but he knows that he's supposed to listen to the teacher and so he deals with it for the rest of the day and when the school bus drops him off at home, he tells his mother what the teacher told him to say: that he has a mark.

his heels drum against the door of the cupboard below the bench where he's sitting, legs kicking back and forth as his mother carefully unwinds the bandage from around his wrist. the line of her mouth is tight and her shoulders are tense. johnny doesn't understand what's wrong because he hasn't done anything at all. when the last end finally drops to the benchtop, she looks down at the indelible flower marked there, made up of tiny stars.

"oh johnny," she whispers, and there's a tremble in her voice.

she wraps her arms around him, hugging him close. johnny doesn't understand why she seems so upset at the pretty flower that had appeared on his wrist halfway through the morning but he hugs her back tightly anyway, always happy to be on the receiving end of affection. after a few moments she lets him go, lifting him down to one of the chairs at the table and gives him his afternoon snack. johnny's allowed to watch cartoons and play when he's finished eating while his mother makes a quiet hushed phone call.

that night, his father comes home from work with a thick leather band. he smoothes his fingers over johnny's star flower and buckles the bracelet into place. when johnny asks why, his father brushes his hair back, pressing a kiss to his forehead and tells him the flower is a special secret.

he wears the leather bracelet for years, moving the buckle back and back as he gets older. the leather wears down from the constant use, scuffed and worn. he gets a few questions about it as he grows up, and when it no longer fits him, he switches it out for a watch.

johnny gets used to the oppressive weight on his wrist. it feels wrong sometimes and he relishes the end of the day when he's at home and free to uncover it. but he likes it too, having this little secret hidden in plain sight. on particularly stressful days, he sweeps his thumb over the band where the flower lies, imagines that he can feel the tiny raised ridges of each star through the tough leather, the metal links.

the mark doesn't come to everyone. less than a tenth of the population are blessed with a soulmate; a magical gift that society still doesn't understand.

there are approximately nine people who know about johnny's soulmate mark. his parents, naturally; mrs. parker, the kinder teacher that johnny barely remembers now though he's sure she probably still remembers him as the marked boy; his doctor; his manager and assistant, out of necessity because hyeran and sungmo are the ones who have to deal with putting their foot down over costuming; and his three closest friends. technically, johnny supposed, it's ten people, since presumably whoever his soulmate is is aware that johnny is out there somewhere in the world. johnny thinks about them sometimes, wonders what he or she will be like, whether or not they'll fit together, worries about whether or not he will know when he's found them. after all, his soulmate mark has always been hidden.

at first it had just been because soulmate marks were a rare thing, and his parents had worried about how it would affect the way he made friendships. it wasn't uncommon for marked ones to be bullied or shunned or left alone. it had taken johnny years to have the confidence to finally tell his friends about it, though he still hasn't shown it to them. and then when he'd started breaking out in the film scene, making his name known as an actor, it was better, safer, not to ever reveal it. he couldn't imagine the chaos it could cause if it inadvertently slipped out that he had a soulmate mark. the fan po box is already inundated with letters and gifts and he knows that if what his soulmate mark looks like is ever revealed, there will be hordes of girls going out of their way to try to replicate it and claim him as their own.

\---

jaehyun gets woken up the sound of jungwoo screeching incoherently in the living room.

the sound of running feet and jaehyun groans, pulling the blanket over his head just as jungwoo bangs his bedroom door open, crossing the floor in two strides and throwing himself onto jaehyun's bed. it's his first day off from work in a while and as much as he loves jungwoo, it's really too early to be dealing with him.

"go away, woo," he mumbles. "i'm trying to sleep."

"jaehyun hyung!" jungwoo whines, "this is important news!"

jaehyun pulls the blanket down just enough for him to look at jungwoo with one narrowed squinty eye. "i haven't had a day off in two weeks. if nobody's bleeding or dying then it's not an emergency and i don't care."

jungwoo squirms his way under the blanket, tucking his body around jaehyun's with a little frown. "i said important, not emergency, hyung. c'mon, don't you wanna know the big news about your favourite actor?"

jaehyun stiffens in jungwoo's arms, and he can feel jungwoo's body shaking as he giggles, knowing that he's got jaehyun's attention. it's no secret to anyone in their friendship circle that jaehyun is sort of a little obsessed with johnny suh, and online he's got a reputation as being one of johnny's oldest active fans. jaehyun's seen every movie, tv episode, commercial that johnny's acted in, even from before johnny made it big. he's bought, read and listened to every interview that he's given, and translated a good portion of them too.

he tries to turn around, reach for his phone over jungwoo's shoulder, but jungwoo blocks his hand, trapping jaehyun inbetween his body and the wall. if there's been news about johnny then doubtless his twitter and his group chats are going off.

"so do you want to know?" jungwoo asks.

"woo!" jaehyun struggles, but jungwoo's got the better position and eventually jaehyun gives up, going lax and grumbles, "yes."

jungwoo smiles. "he's coming here."

jaehyun whips his head around, staring at jungwoo with eyes filled with scrutiny, trying to detect any hint of a lie. "what? are you serious?"

"hyung," jungwoo pouts, "do you think i would lie to you?"

"yes." jaehyun answers without hesitation. he has ample proof of jungwoo doing exactly that over the years.

jungwoo isn't at all offended, waving one hand dismissively. "okay, true. but i'm not. all the news this morning says that he's signed on to play second lead in kim kiduk's new movie, crooked scholar."

"holy shit." jaehyun says. and then, when jungwoo's words finally penetrate his brain properly, he's shooting upright, sprawling over jungwoo and grabbing at his phone. "holy shit!!”

his notifications are a chaos of twitter mentions and dms. jaehyun clears them all without a thought, immediately opening up twitter and switching from his personal account to his johnny fanaccount to find and read all of the news links.

"pretty surprising, isn't it," jungwoo says, as jaehyun speed reads through several news articles. "who'd have thought he'd be coming here for a movie? we should definitely go try and see him, hyung."

while johnny suh is a born and bred seoulite, he's barely done any work in the country. his parents moved him halfway across the world to america when he was in high school, and they'd settled in chicago. johnny came back to do an exchange semester in university, where he acted in his first film. it was called the saint's path, and it was for his roommate's final assignment. it'd taken jaehyun a long time to track that video down, but he'd managed it in the end. he'll never admit this to anyone but he has it backed up on three different harddrives and two cloud services. the younger, less confident and more awkward johnny is one of jaehyun's favourites. after johnny's semester was over, he flew back to chicago, and spent years in small roles before he shot to fame after starring in sun&moon, an arthouse film that had somehow captured nationwide and then international attention. that was nearly four years and a bunch of roles ago now, and since then johnny's been back in korea mostly to visit family every now and then, and twice for modelling campaigns with oi oi and beyond closet.

johnny's popularity is certainly deserved, jaehyun can say that even objectively. he's a good actor, even if he doesn't have any awards under his belt; the nominations that he's gotten aren't for nothing. the fact that he's a korean, an asian actor making it big in the industry is even better.

"how would we even manage that," jaehyun asks absently as he crafts his own tweet about the big news.

"i'm sure you could find out. you have your fanaccount and there's the studio and everything."

jaehyun lowers his phone, fixing jungwoo with a level glare. "i'm not some kind of weird stalker, jungwoo."

jungwoo splutters. "that's not what i meant! hyung, you know i'd never think of you like that. i just thought, you know, we could go see him when he arrives or whatever. surely there'd be like, some press cons or something where we could see him." he hugs jaehyun closer. "you've been a fan of him for longer than i've even known you, hyung, i just don't want you to miss out."

jaehyun softens. "i know, woo. it's okay, something will work out. c'mon, let's go get breakfast, okay?"

jaehyun's in no rush. he's waited this long for johnny, he can wait a while longer.

\---

johnny's forgotten what it's like to be in korea. chicago and la are busy too, but seoul is busy in a different type of way.

hyeran's wrangled him an airbnb within a gated community not too far off from the set location. filming is scheduled to happen over a couple of months and she worries about disturbing other hotel guests for that long. plus, the fact that it's out of the city acts as something of a deterrant to the fans who had greeted him at the airport. he'd been a little taken aback when sungmo had stopped him from exiting into the arrival hall, telling them they had to wait for security to escort them out, but he'd plastered the smile on his face, waving as they were walked to the car. johnny knows, of course, this is a part of the korean fan culture; it's not as though he doesn't keep up with things happening in his home country, but it's different to see videos of it than to experience it himself.

they do the table read and the press conference, something that johnny's not used to doing for his other roles but at least it's like any other interview he's done before and he's grateful when he gets to see a brief overview of the questions first. johnny's just glad that he kept up his korean language skills and doesn't embarrass himself too badly. kim kiduk seems perfectly nice, if not a little demanding, and all his co-stars warm up to him quickly.

there's a few days before filming starts up where he's allowed to go and visit his family. thankfully, fans seem to respect this, and he's never gotten any word of anyone tracking down the addresses of his grandparents or aunts and uncles. it's a good quiet few days where his relatives, in typical fashion, lament over how tall he is and how handsome he's gotten and how well he's doing for himself but has he considered eating more, he's getting too thin, when is he going to start dating. he kicks a soccer ball around and plays some board games with his nieces and nephews, catches up with his cousins, and generally just all around has a good time.

filming is brutal when it starts. johnny feels like he barely has time to breathe, let alone sleep. some days he's on top of his game and filming is a breeze. other days it's a struggle not to take the corrections and demands and multiple takes to heart. there's pressure mounting on his shoulders from the words kim kiduk had said at the press con: that he had had johnny in mind from the beginning of the screenplay, that he's seen his past works and he's expecting a lot from him. days are a whirlwind of stop starts and hurry up and wait. he's exhausted all the time, snatching sleep in between scenes and in the car, barely making time to text with his friends before he's passing out in bed, but it's a good thing. he's working hard. and the praise that he receives from staff or his co-stars makes it worth it.

eventually, filming wraps up. they celebrate with dinner and drinks in a private restaurant. johnny drinks a little too much and wakes up the next day with a killer hangover and the number of one of the junior assistants saved in his phone. he deletes the number and spends the rest of the morning wallowing in his bad decisions. by lunch time sungmo's had enough of him moping around the house, pushing him into the shower and telling him to get ready to go out.

despite johnny's relative fame, with a beanie crammed down over his head and a mask over his face, he looks just about like any other member of the south korean population. there are a few people who double take when they see him, as if unsure of whether or not they were correct, but sungmo sweeps him on wandering down the street before they can get another good look at him.

johnny's flight back to america isn't for another few days, and as he walks through the streets of seoul, his attention gets caught by an odd, kitschy sort of bookshop. johnny isn't really much of a reader, but something about the bookshop calls to him and he finds himself doing an abrupt turn, sungmo nearly tripping as he catches johnny's movement and hurries to follow him, and pushes open the door of the bookshop.

\---

of the three jobs that jaehyun works, the bookshop has always been his least favourite. his favourite is definitely teaching at the preschool where all the children lisp out 'teacher jae, teacher jae' whenever they want something. printing and organising scripts and doing other little odd jobs around the news studio isn't the best but at least it's sort of related to his degree. the bookshop though, jaehyun hates, but there's no other place he could find that could accomodate his schedule. giving up one of his jobs isn't on the cards either, because all three combined are just enough to keep him going every month with a little bit left over for savings. the bookshop has absolutely no cataloguing system to it, which actually makes recommending books and assisting customers a giant pain.

when the shop bell rings though and johnny suh walks in, jaehyun thinks that he may have to change the bookshop from his least to his most favourite job.

even in an oversized jumper that hides his frame, and a beanie to hide his hair and a white facemask on, jaehyun would know him anywhere. he's watched too many of johnny's works to not be familiar with the way that he moves. johnny's eyes rove around the shop as he walks in, and then the toe of his boot gets caught on the edge of one of the thick rugs that mrs. woo insists on having instead of carpeting and he's stumbling forward.

jaehyun's there before he even registers moving out from behind the register, catching johnny by the arm and steadying him.

there's a warmth fluttering in johnny's chest as the assistant rights him, a tingle in his wrist, and he knows. johnny stares dumbly at the man before him, midnight blue hair and deep brown eyes, a light pink flush settling over soft pale cheeks, feeling the answering cognisance as the man looks back at him.

"jaehyun," johnny breathes, the name coming to him in a slow roll off his tongue at the same time that a bashful smile lifts the corners of jaehyun's lips, creasing into dimples and teeth, "johnny."

the moment is broken by sungmo, looking in confusion between the two of them. "do you two know each other?"

startled, jaehyun drops johnny's arm, and johnny instantly mourns the loss of connection. his eyes dart to sungmo's face, and johnny feels it, the uncertainty and panic that fills him.

"it's fine, hyung. it's him." johnny says, and he smiles at jaehyun. johnny wants to reach out, take his hand, calm him properly but they've only just met. instead, he says, voice laden with meaning, "he knows. i can't believe you're here. can we—is there—?"

jaehyun bites his lip, blood rushing to fill it and johnny can't help but stare. "i'm—come back at six? i'll be finished work, then. we can—we can go somewhere and talk."

six o'clock is four hours away. it feels too long to johnny. he's only just met jaehyun, they haven't even had time to confirm their marks yet even though he knows that it's simply a formality. everything inside him screams that jaehyun is his match. he'd never guessed that it would be like this. he touches his wrist instinctively to soothe himself.

"yes. of course."

another shy smile from jaehyun. "okay. i'll be waiting for you."

there's a promise in those words that make it easier, the idea that jaehyun's been waiting just as long as johnny has to meet him.

johnny nods, "i'll be here."

\---

six o'clock exactly and johnny's through the door of the bookshop once again. jaehyun's just stepping out from behind the register and johnny meets him halfway across the floor.

it should feel awkward, this part, but there's nobody around now. johnny's sent sungmo away after explaining the whole thing properly this afternoon after jaehyun had dismissed them from the shop. johnny pulls up his sleeve, fumbling with the ever present watch wrapped around his wrist.

"let me," jaehyun says, voice low and velvet smooth.

he reaches out and johnny holds his arm still between them, lets jaehyun's long elegant fingers pluck at the clasp until it comes loose. and then jaehyun's easing it away, baring the pale strip of skin that no one sees. a quiet little sigh as the mark comes into view, and johnny's heart beat quickens as jaehyun touches it with gentle fingertips. jaehyun doesn't wait for johnny to ask, tilting his chin upwards as he works on the buttons of his shirt. three buttons down and jaehyun lets his hands fall to his sides. johnny's touch is slow, pushing material aside until he can see the truth, trace the familiar shape of flowers and stars etched under his collarbone.

the mark seems to pulse under johnny's fingers.

soulmate, is what they hear.

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/jaelectrick)   
>  [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/jaelectrick)


End file.
